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This paper aims to examine the influence of the international spectrum management regime on the introduction of flexibility in the national allocation of radiocommunication services. This is achieved through focusing on the main elements of the international regime.

A qualitative inductive methodology is adopted that examines the different elements of the international radiocommunication service allocation framework. Data are drawn from 66 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders who are actively involved in International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector discussions.

The international radio regulations (RR) are perceived to be more of a framework for harmonisation that does not constrain the flexibility of countries. Countries are only restricted on their borders with their neighbours, and flexibility is already facilitated through a range of different measures. Moreover, several elements of the RR can be used to achieve both, i.e. to promote flexibility and to restrict the decisions of others.

The international spectrum management regime is not one of the reasons for the unsuccessful practical application of the flexible spectrum property rights concept. This suggests the need for reviewing whether there still is a need for such a concept given the increasing importance of global harmonisation and economies of scales.

This paper sheds light on spectrum property rights from the perspective of the international spectrum management regime. Such a perspective is largely overlooked in the on-going current debate.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of the European countries in Region 1 of the Radio Sector of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU-R). More specifically, the focus is on the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 meeting to explore whether European influence is in decline.

This article adopts in-depth case study of the 700-MHz issue. Qualitative data are drawn from semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders who participated at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 meeting.

This article concludes that the influence of European countries in the ITU-R in Region 1 has changed. The influence of Arab and African countries has increased, with that of European countries declining. However, European countries remain more influential than their African and Arab counterparts.

This article sheds light on an often overlooked but pivotal element of the international spectrum allocation mechanism.

This article sheds light on important developments in the international spectrum policy that are largely overlooked in the current debate.

COVID-19 has influenced the way we utilise the radio spectrum in terms of increasing data rates, the localisation of usage, and the transfer of traffic from urban to rural areas. Most regulators have shown sympathy towards operator requirements, stipulating a range of mitigation actions including allowing technology neutrality and temporary assignments. Internationally, the ITU-R suspended all physical meetings and launched a new global network resiliency platform named ‘REG4COVID’ to share experiences including those related to spectrum management.

It is argued in this chapter that the pandemic has supported the calls for additional unlicensed spectrum for Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz and accelerated the rollout of 5G. Moreover, despite of increasing use of streaming, it is quite difficult to assume that traditional linear TV will be replaced, at least in the near future for a variety of reasons. The pandemic has also raised the question as to whether an innovative assignment model could be used to assign the spectrum instead of auctions, and whether, in some countries where temporary assignments were made, frequencies are kept unutilised or reserved. Concerning international spectrum management, it is expected that WRC-23 will be held on time though there will be some implications for issues such as the regulatory time-limits for bringing into use satellite networks frequency assignments. Finally, it is argued that the pandemic has also demonstrated the importance of flexibility and agility in national spectrum management, and placed spectrum managers in a new position where they were forced to be proactive instead of their traditional reactive role.

This chapter is contextual in nature. It provides an overview of the impact of COVID-19, highlighting both the significant number of deaths caused by the pandemic as well as the economic disruption that occurred. Particular attention is paid to the role of digital technologies during the pandemic, which enabled a wide range of activities (e.g. work, education and shopping) to go online. The disruptive impact of COVID-19 is widespread and far-reaching, with the pandemic acting as a ‘change agent’ expanding and encouraging the greater use of digital technologies. The second half of the chapter presents summaries of the other chapters in the book. In doing so, it illustrates the scope and scale of the impact of COVID-19, the multitude of different challenges it has caused, and how these varied across different regions and contexts, as well as the diversity of reactions to the pandemic. Some of these reactions are technical in nature, while others are commercial and political. The summaries also draw attention to ongoing policy debates, the significance of which has been heightened by the pandemic.

This paper aims to analyse telecommunications in Morocco and the control exercised by the absolute monarch who also owns one of three mobile operators.

The single country case study provides a detailed picture of legislative, market and policy developments over a period of 15 years.

Severe conflicts of interests with the king as absolute monarch, head of the judiciary, chairman of the cabinet of ministers and owner of one of the largest operators exist. Market entry has only been possible with his sanction and only by acquiring in a stake in one of the existing operators. Investment is predominantly by domestic and Gulf Arabs. No attention has been given to competition and market bottlenecks. Expansion of the royal operator was observed.

This is a single-country case study of an absolute monarchy.

Short of ending the monarchy, it is difficult to see a means to remove the conflicts of interest.

The interests of the citizens take second place to royal profit-seeking.

This is the first critical assessment of telecommunications in Morocco. It adds to the small stock of case studies about bribery, corruption and patrimonialism in telecommunications.

The efforts of researchers in the 21st century have been devoted to developing novel approaches to leave planet earth green for future generations. This study aims to report the synthesis of microcapsules from natural essential peppermint oil and their application to a bleached polyester and cotton (PC) blended fabric.

Microcapsules were prepared by a complex coacervation process and applied through the conventional pad-dry-cure method. The liquid suspension of the microcapsules was examined by optical microscopy to investigate the surface morphology of the microcapsules. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the surface morphology of the fabric after the application of the microcapsules. The finished fabric was checked for its mosquito repellent activity at the lab scale using a standard test protocol (cage test) by inserting a human arm and hand enfolded with microcapsules treated fabric.

PC fabric treated with 6% microencapsulated peppermint oil at zero wash showed 95.3% repellency against mosquitoes, and after 30 washes, the repellency was 85.8% which confirmed the durability of the developed finished fabric. The finished samples exhibited excellent air permeabilities and absorbencies.

This study successfully developed peppermint oil microencapsulated fabric with excellent efficacy against three mosquito species.